


Beautiful Things

by celeste9



Category: Primeval
Genre: F/M, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 11:49:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2108793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What do you say, James? Once more, for old times' sake?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [StealingPennies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StealingPennies/gifts).



> Written for stealingpennies' birthday. Hope you like it and are having a lovely time in NY! Fills the 'ice queen/king' square on my Primeval bingo card.

Christine remained as beautiful as James remembered.

Unfortunately, she also still left him as wrong-footed as ever.

The aborted lunch meeting had turned into dinner, and dinner had led to drinks afterwards. Naturally the drinks were being had in James’ flat, for no reason other than that he preferred to drink his own whisky. Really. That was all.

Christine had ignored James’ offer of a seat and instead remained standing while she perused the room, sipping her own drink and examining the décor. “I always appreciated your sense of style, James,” she said, trailing her finger along the mantelpiece before finally taking a seat on the white sofa. She crossed her legs primly, though her skirt left a good deal of leg on display.

James politely averted his gaze to her face. “I like beautiful things,” he said.

“Isn’t that a fact,” she said, raising her glass to her red lips. “I can’t believe how old your children have got.” She gestured to the pictures on the mantelpiece.

“Neither can I.” It made him feel old. James loved his children, but feeling old was not something he appreciated.

Christine laughed lightly. “I was sorry to hear about your divorce.”

“Oh, enough with the niceties. I know you never liked Anna.”

Christine shrugged, a delicate lifting of her shoulders. “I always thought she was a shrewish woman. I’m sorry, should I try to be more polite? You do know how I struggle with social conventions.”

“I expect it’s because you’ve never cared what people think of you.”

“And you always have.”

James thought of the ARC and wanted to laugh. “I care less than you might think.”

“Then it seems people can change after all.” Christine set down her glass onto the coffee table and rose to her feet, moving to stand in front of him. “I hope that all our talk of business over dinner hasn’t soured you to me.”

“I know how to separate business from pleasure.”

“Oh, good.” She trailed her finger down James’ chest, a gentle pressure. “I would like the rest of our evening to be very… pleasurable.”

James shivered at the sultry sound of her voice. Christine, as ever, knew how to play him to perfection. “Indeed?”

“Indeed. You know, James, there isn’t any reason we can’t still be friends.”

“We were never friends, Christine.”

“No, perhaps not. But we were much better at other things, weren’t we?” Christine undid the first button of James’ jacket. She smelled like expensive perfume.

James could feel his body beginning to betray him. Oh, yes. They certainly had been. “That was a long time ago.” Before his marriage. God, he’d been young. They both had.

“Not so long, in the grand scheme of things. What do you say, James?” Christine asked, her lips curving in a smirk. “Once more, for old times’ sake?”

Perhaps James shouldn’t have said that he liked beautiful things - he should have said that he had a weakness for them. Ducking around Christine only long enough to divest himself of his half-finished whisky, he turned back to her and seized her arms, pulling her in for a kiss.

Christine easily matched his intensity, pressing into him. He could feel the tug of her fingers in his hair and then yelped when she gripped his bottom with her other hand.

She gave his bum a smack and pulled back, grinning. “Oh, this is going to be fun,” she said, and tucked her fingers in behind his belt to give a little yank.

“I see you still think you can take control of the proceedings,” James said, wrestling for some small bit of control over himself, at the very least.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it,” Christine said, her mouth curving upwards in amusement. She stepped out of her heels and simply began walking in the direction of the bedroom, as though she already knew the flat intimately. Her hips swayed with every step and James couldn’t even be bothered to pretend he wasn’t looking.

He followed.

Everything about Christine was a tease. The way she smiled and the way she undressed, slowly and sensuously. Like it was a game and she knew she had already won. Her lips parted around soft breathy noises and half-murmured words, and when James put his mouth on her she giggled breathlessly and held him there, saying, “Ladies first?”

When she had shuddered through her release she paused barely a moment, pushing James onto his back and climbing over him.

She moved above him, sinuously graceful, her black hair hanging around her face like a curtain. She pressed one hand onto his chest to steady herself and used the other to push her hair out of her face, tossing her head back to reveal the line of her throat.

James gripped her hips and half-swallowed a moan.

After, they lay there quietly. James ran a shaky hand through his hair.

“Well,” Christine said, kissing him once before slipping out of bed to dress. “Thank you, James. I needed that.”

James sat up, watching her. He wished he felt less like they had just successfully completed a business transaction.

But then, he knew he shouldn’t have expected anything else.

“You’re welcome to stay, if you like,” he said, knowing she never would.

Christine flashed a smile at him as she reached behind herself to zip up her skirt. “Always the gentleman. No need, I’ll let myself out.” She glanced around the room. “Ah, I remember. My heels are in your living room. Though it might have made things interesting to have left them on. I recall you used to like that.”

James felt himself flush and wished there was a way to hide it. He supposed covering himself up in the sheet would be a bit much.

Laughing, Christine said, “See, we are good together still. No need for us to be enemies.”

“I wasn’t aware that we were.”

“Let’s see that we keep it that way, then.” She gave him a little wave. “Good night, James. You’ll be hearing from me very soon.”

“Good night,” he said, though she never even turned to look at him again as she walked out.

If James had felt something for her once, he doubted that Christine had ever felt the same for him. He wondered if there was anything in her heart but ambition.

He wondered if that kept her warm at night.

James knew this had been a mistake. He knew that Christine would find a way to use this against him. She always did.

Still, he couldn’t find it in himself to regret it.

**_End_ **


End file.
